Sponsor Of 'Bathroom Bill' Could Represent NC In Congress

State Sen. Dan Bishop (R-Mecklenburg) beat out nine other candidates in Tuesday's Republican primary in North Carolina's 9th Congressional District.

Bishop won handily, garnering more than 47 percent of the vote, thereby avoiding the need for a primary runoff. The Mecklenburg attorney was the most well-funded of the crowded GOP field, helped, in part, by lending his own campaign $250,000.

Bishop will need a well-stocked war chest in the general election, set for September 10. Bishop faces three other candidates: Democrat Dan McCready, Libertarian Jeff Scott, and Green Party member Allen Smith.

Of those candidates, McCready has the most money on hand, $1.5 million, and plenty of national support. McCready ran a close second in the 2018 general election, trailing Republican Mark Harris by just 905 votes. States elections officials discarded those results, however, and found that Harris campaign operative McCrae Dowless tampered with absentee ballots. Dowless now faces felony charges and Harris chose not to run in the new election.

Senator Bishop is known for sponsoring HB2, the now-repealed 'bathroom bill,' which required transgender people to use public restrooms corresponding to the sex on their birth certificate. The controversial legislation cost the state millions of dollars in lost business.